Pattern and Process in Macroecology

A ground-up approach to explaining dynamic spatial modelling for an interdisciplinary audience. Across broad areas of the environmental and social sciences, simulation models are an important way to study systems inaccessible to scientific experimental and observational methods, and also an essential complement to those more conventional approaches. The contemporary research literature is teeming with abstract simulation models whose presentation is mathematically demanding and requires a high level of knowledge of quantitative and computational methods and approaches. Furthermore, simulation models designed to represent specific systems and phenomena are often complicated, and, as a result, difficult to reconstruct from their descriptions in the literature. This book aims to provide a practical and accessible account of dynamic spatial modelling, while also equipping readers with a sound conceptual foundation in the subject, and a useful introduction to the wide-ranging literature. Spatial Simulation: Exploring Pattern and Process is organised around the idea that a small number of spatial processes underlie the wide variety of dynamic spatial models. Its central focus on three ‘building-blocks’ of dynamic spatial models – forces of attraction and segregation, individual mobile entities, and processes of spread – guides the reader to an understanding of the basis of many of the complicated models found in the research literature. The three building block models are presented in their simplest form and are progressively elaborated and related to real world process that can be represented using them. Introductory chapters cover essential background topics, particularly the relationships between pattern, process and spatiotemporal scale. Additional chapters consider how time and space can be represented in more complicated models, and methods for the analysis and evaluation of models. Finally, the three building block models are woven together in a more elaborate example to show how a complicated model can be assembled from relatively simple components. To aid understanding, more than 50 specific models described in the book are available online at patternandprocess.org for exploration in the freely available Netlogo platform. This book encourages readers to develop intuition for the abstract types of model that are likely to be appropriate for application in any specific context. Spatial Simulation: Exploring Pattern and Process will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in environmental, social, ecological and geographical disciplines. Researchers and professionals who require a non-specialist introduction will also find this book an invaluable guide to dynamic spatial simulation.

To deliver a construction project on time, at cost and of appropriate quality, it is critical to manage the design and construction process effectively… This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the field of process management in design and construction in order to meet the business needs of the construction industry as they change in today’s highly competitive global environment. It identifies the current state of the industry in the process management field, describing trends and developments (including information technology), and demonstrates these through case study evidence. Practical guidance is offered by identifying potential pitfalls, illustrating best practise drawn from construction and appropriate manufacturing applications. The overall approach is a holistic one, based on practical experience gained throughout the past decade both in the academic and industrial environments, including leading a number of research projects on process and IT related topics in construction and manufacturing industries. Process Management in Design and Construction will provide students on construction and project management related courses with a description of the state of process management in design and construction – including current process models – as well as a future vision based on up-to-date research findings and good practice in the construction industry. The book also offers practical guidance to industrial and consultancy organisations on undertaking and implementing process management projects – including re-engineering their customer delivery processes through effective project

A high-level introduction to new technologies andmethods in the field of software engineering Recent years have witnessed rapid evolution of software engineering methodologies, and until now, there has been no single-source introduction to emerging technologies in the field. Written by a panel of experts and divided into four clear parts, Emerging Methods, Technologies, and Process Management in SoftwareEngineering covers: Software Architectures – Evolution of software composition mechanisms; compositionality in software product lines; and teaching design patterns Emerging Methods – The impact of agent-oriented software engineering in service-oriented computing; testing object-oriented software; the UML and formal methods; and modern Web application development Technologies for Software Evolution – Migrating to Web services and software evolution analysis and visualization Process Management – Empirical experimentation in software engineering and foundations of agile methods Emerging Methods, Technologies, and Process Management in Software Engineering is a one-stop resource for software engineering practitioners and professionals, and also serves as an ideal textbook for undergraduate and graduate students alike.

The complete, hands-on guide to sustainable development Today's process industries must develop natural resources within an eco-friendly framework that balances current demand with future need. Realizing this goal necessitates global vigilance of three key areas—people, planet, and prosperity—known as the Triple Bottom Line or, simply, the Triple P. Sustainable Development in the Process Industries details how worldwide implementation of sustainable processes in present-day industries can positively influence the Triple P going forward by lowering poverty, reducing pollution, and conserving resources. This in-depth guide includes: Real-world case studies and examples Individual chapters written by industry experts Application in industries such as petroleum and fuel, food, recycling, mineral processing, and water processing Focus on the micro (molecules, unit operations, processes) to the macro (industrial sites, value chains, regions, the world) Providing lessons with practical application rather than pure theory, Sustainable Development in the Process Industries offers sound solutions to social, ecological, and economic challenges imperative to assuring our planet's well-being for generations.

Exploring methods and techniques to optimize processing energy efficiency in process plants, Energy and Process Optimization for the Process Industries provides a holistic approach that considers optimizing process conditions, changing process flowschemes, modifying equipment internals, and upgrading process technology that has already been used in a process plant with success. Field tested by numerous operating plants, the book describes technical solutions to reduce energy consumption leading to significant returns on capital and includes an 8-point Guidelines for Success. The book provides managers, chemical and mechanical engineers, and plant operators with methods and tools for continuous energy and process improvements.

Moments as projections of an image’s intensity onto a proper polynomial basis can be applied to many different aspects of image processing. These include invariant pattern recognition, image normalization, image registration, focus/ defocus measurement, and watermarking. This book presents a survey of both recent and traditional image analysis and pattern recognition methods, based on image moments, and offers new concepts of invariants to linear filtering and implicit invariants. In addition to the theory, attention is paid to efficient algorithms for moment computation in a discrete domain, and to computational aspects of orthogonal moments. The authors also illustrate the theory through practical examples, demonstrating moment invariants in real applications across computer vision, remote sensing and medical imaging. Key features: Presents a systematic review of the basic definitions and properties of moments covering geometric moments and complex moments. Considers invariants to traditional transforms – translation, rotation, scaling, and affine transform – from a new point of view, which offers new possibilities of designing optimal sets of invariants. Reviews and extends a recent field of invariants with respect to convolution/blurring. Introduces implicit moment invariants as a tool for recognizing elastically deformed objects. Compares various classes of orthogonal moments (Legendre, Zernike, Fourier-Mellin, Chebyshev, among others) and demonstrates their application to image reconstruction from moments. Offers comprehensive advice on the construction of various invariants illustrated with practical examples. Includes an accompanying website providing efficient numerical algorithms for moment computation and for constructing invariants of various kinds, with about 250 slides suitable for a graduate university course. Moments and Moment Invariants in Pattern Recognition is ideal for researchers and engineers involved in pattern recognition in medical imaging, remote sensing, robotics and computer vision. Post graduate students in image processing and pattern recognition will also find the book of interest.

The new edition of Arid Zone Geomorphology aims to encapsulate the advances that have been made in recent years in the investigation and explanation of landforms and geomorphological processes in drylands. Building on the success of the previous two editions, the Third Edition has been completely revised and updated to reflect the latest developments in the field. Whilst this latest edition will remain a comprehensive reference to the subject, the book has been restructured to include regional case studies throughout to enhance student understanding and is clearly defined into five distinct sections; Firstly, the book introduces the reader to Large Scale Controls and Variability in Drylands and then moves on to consider Surface Processes and Characteristics; The Work of Water, The Work of the Wind. The book concludes with a section on Living with Dryland Geomorphology that includes a chapter on geomorphological hazards and the human impact on these environments. Once again, recognised world experts in the field have been invited to contribute chapters in order to present a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of current knowledge about the processes shaping the landscape of deserts and arid regions. In order to broaden the appeal of the Third Edition, the book has been reduced in extent by 100 pages and the Regional chapters have been omitted in favour of the inclusion of key regional case studies throughout the book. The Editor is also considering the inclusion of a supplementary website that could include further images, problems and case studies.

Offering a different approach to other textbooks in the area, this book is a comprehensive introduction to the subject divided in three broad parts. The first part deals with building physical models, the second part with developing empirical models and the final part discusses developing process control solutions. Theory is discussed where needed to ensure students have a full understanding of key techniques that are used to solve a modeling problem. Hallmark Features: Includes worked out examples of processes where the theory learned early on in the text can be applied. Uses MATLAB simulation examples of all processes and modeling techniques- further information on MATLAB can be obtained from www.mathworks.com Includes supplementary website to include further references, worked examples and figures from the book This book is structured and aimed at upper level undergraduate students within chemical engineering and other engineering disciplines looking for a comprehensive introduction to the subject. It is also of use to practitioners of process control where the integrated approach of physical and empirical modeling is particularly valuable.

Systems displaying competing interactions of some kind are widespread – much more, in fact, as commonly anticipated (magnetic and Ising-type interactions or the dynamics of DNA molecules being only two popular examples). Written for researchers in the field with different professional backgrounds, this volume classifies phenomena not by system but rather by the type of competing interactions involved. This allows for a straightforward presentation of the underlying principles and the universal laws governing the behaviour of different systems. Starting with a historical overview, the author proceeds by describing self-competitions of various types of interactions (such as diploar or multipolar interactions), competitions between a short-range and a long-range interaction (as in Ising systems or DNA models) or between a long-range interaction and an anisotropy (as in ultrathin magnetic films or magnetic nanoparticles) and finally competitions between interactions of the same range (as in spin glasses). Each chapter contains a few problems with solutions which provide suitable material for lecturers of mathematics and physics as well as biology courses. A vast body of references to the original literature make the volume self-contained and ideally suited to master this interdisciplinary field.